Attack on Chandrila
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Attack on Chandrila
Conflict
Objective
Place
Outcome
New Republic[1] Galactic Empire[1] Windom Traducier[1] Hostis Ij[3] Adea Rite[1]
- "No. A larger plan. This aberration of an attack must not become our dominant mode of doing business, Adea. We must deal with Rax quickly. Mercilessly. If he is given time, he will spin this as only he can. He will attempt to convince the others that it was sensible, a necessary evil."
"What if they do? Surely the New Republic will be left reeling—"
"Don't be seduced by Rax… The Empire is a hammer striking down disorder, not a knife slipped between unsuspecting ribs. Rax must be arrested. And then executed. I will be the one to do it." - ―Rae Sloane and Adea Rite react to the Attack on Chandrila[1]
Theattack on Chandrila occurred during the festivities ofLiberation Day—theday scheduled forpeace talks betweenMon Mothma of theNew Republic andRae Sloane of theGalactic Empire—onChandrila, newly-freedprisoners fromAshmead's Lock onKashyyyk who were under the influence of controller chips, involuntarily attacked Mothma and other New Republic leaders. Mothma andKyrsta Agate were injured in the attacks, whileHostis Ij,Crix Madine, and others were rumored to bedead. Masterminded byGallius Rax, the attacks horrified Sloane, who considered the tactic too close to the tactics of theRebel Alliance and New Republic she despised.
Prelude[]
By5 ABY, theNew Republic, the successor government to the formerRebel Alliance, had secured large swaths ofthe galaxy from the embattledGalactic Empire. With the loss of theplanetKuat and itsmassive orbital shipyards,Grand AdmiralRae Sloane, the highest-rankingImperial Militaryofficer and the public face of the Empire, posed as the enigmaticalOperator and contactedChancellorMon Mothma,Fleet AdmiralGial Ackbar, andPrincessLeia Organa viahologram to propose peace talks with the New Republic.[1]
Chancellor Mothma agreed to entertain Sloane's peace talks but reiterated that theGalactic Senate had to be party to these negotiations. However, GrandAdmiral Sloane proposed that she talk to her people and suggested holding the peace talks on the planetChandrila with minimal guard as a gesture of trust. Sloane told Mon Mothma to contact her using a secure channel before ending the meeting. Following this meeting, Chancellor Mothma gave orders to convene an emergency session of the Galactic Senate to discuss holding peace talks with the Empire.[1]
In secret, the peace talks were merely a ruse for Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax's planned attack on Chandrila, the New Republic's capital. Rax was the true leader of the Empire and operated from behind the scenes through Sloane and herShadow Council. With Sloane disagreeing with his long-term strategy for the Empire, Rax wanted to assassinate her during the peace talks through his agentAdea Rite, Sloane's aide.[1]
While Sloane was aware that the peace talks were a ruse for Rax's attack, she did not know that Rax was intending to use the liberated rebel prisoners fromAshmead's Lock to assassinate the Chancellor and key New Republic officials. Rax had inserted the prisoners with inorganic chips and made arrangements with his local agent theSenate GuardsmanWindom Traducier to "activate" the prisoners with a transponder planted onHanna City's opera house.[1]
The facade of diplomacy[]
Royal Guards escorted the Grand Admiral on Chandrila.
A month after Sloane's initial contact with the New Republic leaders, the Galactic Senate voted to proceed with the peace talks. A public celebration calledLiberation Day was also organized to celebrate the liberation of prisoners from the secret Ashmead's Lock prison on theWookieehomeworld ofKashyyyk, which was still under Imperial occupation. Liberation Day was a public relations campaign designed to promote the New Republic and would be broadcast live onHoloNet to the galaxy. Several systems were considering joining the New Republic and Chancellor Mothma hoped to sway them.[1]
When Chancellor Mothma suggested discussing the liberation of Kashyyyk, Princess Leia considered the freedom of the Wookiees a non-negotiable matter. Her husbandHan Solo's co-pilotChewbacca was a Wookiee and Solo had undertaken a campaign to liberate the Wookiees as a gesture of friendship. Despite her persistent efforts, Leia had failed to marshal the votes needed to send aid and troops to Kashyyyk since the New Republic was already preoccupied with protecting and aiding other worlds and systems that had been liberated from the Empire. Though Mothma had given orders for theNew Republic Defense Force not to attack Kashyyyk, this did not stop Han, Chewie, and their team of smugglers and Wookiee exiles from organizing a slave revolt.[1]
Putting Rax's orders into action, Windom Traducier used the transponder to summon the Ashmead Lock captives and outfitted each of them with small concealable, graphene blasters. Since the former captives would mingle with Chancellor Mothma and the New Republic leadership, Traducier deduced that they would be reliable assets. WhenTemmin Wexley discovered his fatherBrentin Lore Wexley, a former Ashmead's Lock inmate, meeting with Windom, Windom ordered Brentin to "deal" with his son. Brentinstunned Temmin and locked him inside a chest.[1]
Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Sloane and her aide Adea Rite landed in Hanna City where they were greeted by Chancellor Mothma. Per the arrangements of Rite, the two were invited to witness the Liberation Day celebrations. Later, Temmin managed to free himself with the help of hisB1-series battle droidMister Bones. The two attempted to enter theOld Gather-House where the celebrations were taking place but were blocked by Senate Guards. A tussle ensued as Temmin and Bones tried to force their way in. While Chancellor Mothma gave a speech, the former Ashmead's Lock inmates involuntarily attacked their New Republic hosts.[1]
Bloodbath on Chandrila[]
At Rax's signal, Brentin and the other prisoners opened fire on Chancellor Mon Mothma and other New Republic officials. Brentin's wifeNorra Wexley managed to save the Chancellor's life by pulling his arm away. Meanwhile,CommodoreKyrsta Agate was badly wounded by the former Rodian inmateEsdo. Only Norra's quick intervention saved the Commodore's life. Admiral Sloane was horrified by Rax's tactics but nonetheless ordered herRoyal Guards to fight their way through the New Republic Guardsmen. Sloane then ordered Rite to get them offworld so that she could punish Fleet Admiral Rax. However, Adea then turned on Sloane and attempted to assassinate her. Following a struggle, Sloane managed to shoot Adea in the chest with herblaster.[1]
New Republic Senate Guardsmen arrived and managed to subdue the attackers with blasters set to stun. Amidst the chaos, Norra and Temmin tried to pursue Brentin. Temmin tried to talk to his father, who was recovering from the effects of the microchip implants. Still confused, Brentin punched Temmin in the stomach before fleeing into the night. Meanwhile, Traducier carried out Rax's orders to assassinate the turncoatGeneralJylia Shale and freed the former Imperial adviserYupe Tashu from New Republic custody. Norra later managed to corner Grand Admiral Sloane and attacked her, believing her to be the mastermind behind the attack. Following a fistfight, Sloane managed to flee but was hit in the back by a blaster bolt.[1]
Despite her injury, Sloane managed to escape on a ChandrilanHHG-42 Bulkstar cargo ship only to discover that a vengeful Brentin had stowed aboard. Following an initially hostile encounter, the two learned that they shared a common enemy in the form of Fleet Admiral Rax. After Brentin tended to Sloane's blaster wound, the two agreed to hunt down and kill Rax. Sloane was also contacted by thebounty hunterMercurial Swift, who informed her that he had uncovered a trove of information on Rax onQuantxi, the planetOrd Mantell'smoon.[1]
Aftermath[]
General Madine was rumored to be dead after the attack.
The attack on Chandrila succeeded in sowing chaos and disillusionment within the New Republic. Some senators proposed the creation of anIndependent Systems Alliance. The New Republic subsequently suspended hiring bounty hunters, believing it made its security services look weak.[1]
While Chancellor Mon Mothma survived the assassination, other New Republic officials includingHostis Ij andCrix Madine were rumored to be dead. Commodore Agate survived the attack but had to undergo extensive facialreconstructive surgery. While Chancellor Mothma awarded Norra a medal, she declined the medal and instead embarked on a quest with her son Temmin, his droid Mister Bones, the former Imperialloyalty officerSinjir Rath Velus, and theIridonian Zabrak bounty hunterJas Emari to hunt down Grand Admiral Sloane, whom they believed to be responsible for the atrocity. Norra and her team received the personal and financial blessing of their new friend Princess Leia.[1]
The New Republic authorities managed to subdue most of the prisoners with the exception of Brentin. Investigations by theNew Republic Security Bureau confirmed that the liberated Ashmead's Lock prisoners had been implanted withinorganic bio-chips. They also arrested Windom Traducier and discovered that he had planted a transponder on the top of the Hanna City opera house which had been used to scramble Imperial signals. While Traducier was unrepentant and defiant, he was killed by Sinjir. Claiming that Grand Admiral Sloane had perished on Chandrila, Gallius Rax assumed the position ofCounselor to the Empire and marshaled the remaining Imperial forces for ashowdown with the New Republic atJakku.[1]
Following the attack on Chandrila, the New Republic relocated its capital to theMid Rim agrarian world ofNakadia. Several senators, diplomats, advisers, generals, and admirals perished during the attack. Efforts by theslicerConder Kyl to access the list of targets embedded in the control chips were foiled when the chips malfunctioned as part of some kind of planned degradation. Due to his role in the events on Chandrila, Norra was suspicious of her husband Brentin but reconciled with him shortly before his death during the Battle of Jakku. Due to the significance of the Imperial attack, Chancellor Mon Mothma dictated that the signing of theImperial Instruments of Surrender and theGalactic Concordance take place on Chandrila.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
The Attack on Chandrila serves as one of the twin climaxes ofChuck Wendig's2016 novelAftermath: Life Debt alongside the liberation of Kashyyyk. The conflict was later mentioned in the2017 sequelAftermath: Empire's End.
Appearances[]
- Aftermath: Life Debt(andaudiobook)(First appearance)
- Battle of Jakku — Republic Under Siege 4(Indirect mention only)
- Battle of Jakku — Last Stand 1(Indirect mention only)
- Battle of Jakku — Last Stand 2(Mentioned only)
- Aftermath: Empire's End(andaudiobook)(Mentioned only)
- Battle of Jakku — Last Stand 3(Mentioned only)
Sources[]
- Star Wars: On the Front Lines
- Star Wars Helmet Collection: General MerrickDatabank A-Z: Zam Wesell–Wexley
- Star Wars: Timelines
"After Endor" —Star Wars Insider 222- Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
- Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
